Mercury rising in India’s Metros: TERI Study

An ongoing study conducted by India’s The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University has revealed that New Delhi and Mumbai have ‘warmed up’ in the last 14 years.

Backed by the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology, the TERI University research uses satellite remote-sensing technologies and has been under way since May 2011. Satellite data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for 1998 and 2010 have been used to compare the surface temperatures in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Rising mercury in New Delhi

Preliminary findings of the ongoing study have disclosed that the surface temperature of the Indian capital has risen by up to 2-3 degrees Celsius since 1998, turning the city into a virtual “urban heat island (UHI).”

The study has also pointed out that the temperature difference between urban and rural areas reaches up to 5-7 degrees Celsius during the night, when the UHI phenomenon is more pronounced.